Category Archives: The Notice Board

So this week started off well or perhaps not so well... when I was exchanging the RD kit with Francesca at running club on Wednesday night, the kit was stolen! Stolen by who you ask? The one and only Dunmow parkrun core team..... if I were you I'd watch out for those Dunmow parkrunners, they're a sneaky bunch.

Now onto Saturday! Whilst the snow was falling and I was slowly becoming more and more frozen stiff with each passing minute, the setup team were in high spirits and somehow not affected by cold - probably something to do with Pavel's coffee! As you may have seen we've brought back the kilometre markers and due to the huge number of runners we are now getting each week, we are trying to organise the start more formally to ease the congestion in the first 500m meters. Please bear with us over the next few weeks as we try to sort out the best solution!

351 of you braved the cold this weekend, of whom 34 were first timers - nice to see that the cold didn't put you off! As usual we had our array of tourists from far and wide, Durham and Great Notley were amongst the contenders this week, but the prize this week goes to our tourists from the Isle of Wight.

As usual without our volunteers we wouldn't have a parkrun, so if you find yourself at a loose end over the next few weeks why not try volunteering. I know its going to get cold over the next few weeks, but us in England are obsessed with talking about the weather so I'm sure a little cold won't hurt us. I know that Kevin has quite an empty roster next week so if you are able to help us out drop us an email and let us know.

Just one final thing before I stop rambling and let you get back to getting on with your lives.... as you may have seen via Facebook we do actually have a trained and accredited guide runner at Castle Park parkrun. Ellen used to regularly be a guide when the parkrun took place over at hatfield forest, and still has her guide accreditation, so if you know anyone that would like to come along but would need the help of a guide please spread the word and let people know that running with a guide can be arranged.

Right enough from me, I'm sure you've all had enough of me rabbiting on! Kevin's in charge next week, please make sure to give him the same parkrun enthusiasm that you all give to me.

Well that was a busy morning! We broke the attendance record for the 2nd week running with 406 runners and walkers. The national statistics aren't out yet, but based on Facebook chatter it wouldn't surprise me if it's another record breaking week.

We welcomed 45 first timers to Castle Park and we hope to see you again. 59 participants recorded new PB's as well so I think the Christmas excesses have now been well and truly run off.

Congratulations to Diane Fossey, Helen Hollingsworth and Jay Price who all completed their 50th parkruns on Saturday.

We can't put on a Parkrun without the volunteers so a big thank you to everyone who helped by volunteering on Saturday morning. If you are able to volunteer please let us know either on the previous Saturday or by emailing in during the week to castleparkhelpers@parkrun.com.

A few reminders

Under 11's - All children under 11 must be accompanied by an adult in arms reach throughout the whole course. (Sprint finishes excepted but a sprint finish doesn't mean that the child finishes 5 minutes in front of the adult).

Barcodes - the national rule is no barcode, no time no exceptions. All barcodes need to be presented in hard copy, there are 2 main reasons for this: the scanners can't scan phones and it is time consuming to enter a significant number of times manually; and your barcode should include your emergency contact details which I really hope I never have to use.

Congestion - it has been noted that there is a lot of congestion in the first mile, please try and ensure that you start in an appropriate position for your pace so that everyone can have a more enjoyable run.

Lost property - a green running top was left on Saturday to add to the collect of lost property which now includes a grey Nike hoody, a ladies Adidas hoody, a black hoody, black tracksuit trousers, a grey hat, a pink bag and 2 water bottles. If theses items aren't claimed by the end of January they will be disposed of .

Tokens - we love our position tokens very much and 4 haven't come back to join their friends ready for next week. If you have accidentally taken one home, please can you bring it back, no questions asked.

Well it was a record breaking day for parkrun in general – more than 164,000 participants nationwide, the most ever, and Charlotte Arter setting a new female record of 15:50 at Cardiff parkrun – so it was appropriate that it was a record breaking day for us too with our own highest attendance. An amazing 395 of you ran, jogged and walked your way around Castle Park. No doubt some of that was due to New Year’s Resolutions – which I hope you’ll maintain! – but we also welcomed a big group of Garden City Runners from Welwyn, as well as visitors from Belfast, Edinburgh, Barking and Billericay (sorry if I’ve missed anyone out!).

Danny Beazley was our first finisher in a new pb of 17:47, and Martha Hall was first female finisher in a time of 21:10.

Of course the event doesn’t happen without the volunteers who give their time, this week’s 24 hi-viz heroes were:

Do please look at the volunteer roster on the website and consider whether you could help us out over the next few weeks – none of the roles are very taxing and, if you need an extra incentive, you get half-price coffee at Pawel’s coffee cart!

There were a few milestones today: Keith Phillips ran his 100th parkrun; Grace Malcolm and Adam Shortland ran their 50th; and Harry Mansfield earned his 25th volunteer credit. Well done all!

That’s about it from me, I leave you in Francesca’s capable hands for next week.

Good afternoon although it was a wet and soggy course, the sun came out to shine upon the 286 people ran, jogged and walked the course for our pre-christmas run. Of these 16 were first timers and 28 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 15 different clubs took part. We even had tourists all the way from South Africa!

As always this event was only staged because of the kind 32 volunteers; who setup, marshaled, did finish area roles, or closed down. They were by name ...

If you can help out with any of the events over the Christmas or New Year period the please email castleparkhelpers@parkrun.com

Also please remember our Christmas day and New Year's day runs will be 9am at the usual place!

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Castle Park parkrun Results Page, http://www.parkrun.org.uk/castlepark/results/latestresults/

The male record is held by Ian KIMPTON who recorded a time of 15:37 on 7th October 2017 (event number 2).
The female record is held by Megan EVANS who recorded a time of 18:18 on 4th November 2017 (event number 6).
The Age Grade course record is held by Jenny BRAYSHAW who recorded 86.60% (24:08) on 10th February 2018 (event number 22).

Castle Park parkrun started on 30th September 2017. Since then 3,308 participants have completed 18,591 parkruns covering a total distance of 92,955 km, including 3,616 new Personal Bests. A total of 427 individuals have volunteered 2,031 times.

On a cold and windy morning (little did we know that would be the day's best weather!) 238 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 27 were first timers and 41 recorded new Personal Bests. Well done all.

Of course, you lot were all moving so could keep warm, spare a thought for the 26 volunteers who made this event possible:

Don't forget our Christmas Day and New Year's Day events - we still need a few critical volunteer roles filled to allow the events to proceed so if the thought of running on too many mince pies or with a NYD hangover doesn't appeal then we have a job for you!

Don't forget also that New Year's Day is the only day where you can be credited with two runs - indeed many events stagger their start times to allow this to happen. Our neighbours at Great Dunmow and Westmill are starting at 1030, and local doubles are also possible at Great Notley/Great Dunmow, Great Notley/Chelmsford, and Panshanger/Westmill. The full list of Christmas Day and New Year's Day events is here.

Good evening parkrunners, that was a good parkrun on Saturday, with 277 participants including 31 first timers taking part. We also had the Ladies Rugby club come and do a “takeover” where they provided some Marshall’s and finish area volunteers and most importantly from my point of view as RD, cake!

Unfortunately there was an incident with another park user on Saturday. Please can we remind everyone that we do not have right of way over other park users and care should be taken as you don’t know whether someone or something is around the next corner.

In exciting news this week junior parkrun is coming to Bishops Stortford on Sunday. It is going to be starting and finishing at Grange Paddocks Leisure centre and is a 2k for 4-14 year olds for more details please see http://www.parkrun.org.uk/grangepaddocks-juniors/

I’m handing the RD reins over to Chris and will be back in the new year. I hope you all have a lovely festive season.

The male record is held by Ian KIMPTON who recorded a time of 15:37 on 7th October 2017 (event number 2).
The female record is held by Megan EVANS who recorded a time of 18:18 on 4th November 2017 (event number 6).
The Age Grade course record is held by Jenny BRAYSHAW who recorded 86.60% (24:08) on 10th February 2018 (event number 22).

Castle Park parkrun started on 30th September 2017. Since then 3,265 participants have completed 18,067 parkruns covering a total distance of 90,335 km, including 3,547 new Personal Bests. A total of 417 individuals have volunteered 1,973 times.

I'm sorry this is incredibly late but I only just remembered to do this while editing French Coursework, which says how exciting that is. So I shall now try to write in english with my brain thinking french.

On with the run report:

Saturday started well as it wasn't that cold but it was cloudy. Me being me was only prepared for rain due to my mum telling me to take my umbrella with me. Well done to everyone who came out in the dreary weather.

On Saturday there were 232 runners, joggers and walkers go round the course in the rain. During the run there was some slipping on the field due to the wet and muddy conditions so please, as it is getting muddier each week, take care, especially when going from grass to path.

Thank you to all the lovely volunteers who stood out in the conditions. The event couldn't have gone ahead without you there. If you would like to volunteer in future weeks, please contact us, we'd love to have you on our team.

So the weekend started off not brilliantly when the RD who promised herself she would wake up early on Friday morning to finalise everything, somehow managed to sleep for 17 hours and didn’t wake up till 2.30pm, and then remembered she had a family gathering in London at 6pm – queue panic! Thankfully our high vis heroes stepped up and all was sorted in no time!

Onto Saturday then. Our usual gaggle of setup boys arrived (yes come on ladies lets not let these gentlemen put us to shame), including Matt who decided he wanted to pretend he was the incredible hulk (it seemed), so decided to carry 95% of the setup equipment himself! I meanwhile continued to drink my coffee…

As usual the runners started meandering their way towards the bandstand from about 8.30 and it was very nice to see lots of our first timers turn up early, (hopefully) eager to get going!

Nice to have a couple of milestones this week; Harold Toze hit his 100, having completed 28 runs at Castle park and over 70 at its predessor at Hatfield forest. And the lovely Harry who at aged only 10 reached 50 parkruns, and if he could would probably volunteer in every role each such is his enthusiasm! Harry’s dog toffee was a little jealous that Harry had reached 50 and she hadn’t but, she’ll get there soon. Contragulations to the both of them.

Tourists galore this week, Cambridge, Nottingham, Harrow lodge and the mysterious far away place known as Great Dunmow; hopefully all enjoyed (especially those from far away lands) and we will see you back at Castle Park in the future.

It was fast this week with Brett Rushman setting himself a new PB coming in in just 16:48! 42 other PB’s were also set and 31 first timers finally realised what fun parkrun is and decided to come and join us. Fabulous to see a nice crowd of 312 despite the chilly weather, lets keep up the parkrunning all through the winter! Hopefully the locals weren't deafened by my SLIGHTY over enthusiastic use of the megaphone at the finish line cheering you all on.......

Obviously after all that running cake was definitely deserved, which luckily was provided by Harry and crew – a lovely Victoria Sponge I hear although someone seemed to have misplaced my piece as it never reached me!

As the sun shone on a beautiful Saturday morning that was more like early autumn than late November, 311 of you ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 30 were first timers and 84 recorded new Personal Bests. As is becoming the "new normal" we proceeded in an anti-clockwise direction onto the path and around Grange Paddocks. Do please pay attention to the run briefing for any updates or changes to the course for that week.

parkrun relies entirely on volunteers to put on the event each week: do please consider volunteering if you haven't done so before or haven't done so in a while. None of the roles are difficult, some can be combined with running, and many people find volunteering as rewarding as running (and there's another free t-shirt to collect once you've volunteered on 25 separate days!).

1 January: New Year's Day "bonus" parkrun, 9am. NYD is the only day you can be credited with two parkruns, many events start early or late to allow a "double", take a look at the compendium of Christmas and New Year Events here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/special-events/

Finally, a jacket was left at the bandstand, and a fitness tracker was found on Grange Paddocks and handed to us. If either are yours, drop us a line and we'll re-unite you.